VCS upgrade X5.1.1 to X7.2.2

[nuinoahmed]

Hello all,

We need to upgarde our customer VCS-E and VCS-C from X5.1.1 to X7.2.2. From Release Notes reading I found that I need to first upgrade to X5.2 then to X7.2.2. The first upgrade do not require new release keys but for the second we need new release keys.  There is also a TMS 12.6 used for provisioning.

Can you please advise confirm the above steps upgrade X5.1.1 to X5.2 to X7.2.2? for both VCS-E and VCS-C?

I saw also a note regading the authentication.  apparently once upgrade done all zones and sub-zones (except Default Zone) athentication is set to "Treat as authenticated".  As no auth is enable now.  Does this mean I need to disable it once upgarde completed?

Finally can you tell me how long it takes to do so?  As I will need to schedule this work out of business hours.

Thanks in advance.

Ahmed

[Alok Jaiswal · Accepted solution]

Hi Ahmed,

First thing is i won't go in a single shot. You can go in parts actually.

- if you have any replication setup between VCS and TMS then you have turn it off gracefully.

- go ahead and upgrade the VCS to x5.2 and take a backup for VCS and VCS-E both.

- go and upgrade to x6.1 and then to x7.2.2,

check the VCS release note for more details.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/telepresence/infrastructure/vcs/release_note/Cisco_VCS_Release_Note_X7-2-2.pdf

I would also suggest you to upgrade the TMS to latest 14.3 version and switch over to TMS provisioning extension mode if you have provisioning previously enabled.

Yes, its true for minor upgrade like 5.1 to 5.2 the key would be same and for major upgrade you need separate release key.

coming over to authentication part the zones are set to "treat as authenticated" when you upgrade is because the VCS upgrade shall not trouble customer enviornment.

zones have three different authentication support " do not check credentials", "check credentials", &"treat as authenticated".

treat as authenticated is the safest option of all as VCS in this case trust that everything coming through is an authentic request and proceed with request. Other options may hinder the peformance.

for one server upgrade takes 20min but i will suggest you to take a proper downtime and plan it in advance.

Rgds

alok

[nuinoahmed]

Thanks all for your input.

So in summary

Upgrade X5.1.1 to X5.2 (No release key) - Backup config

Upgarde X5.2 to X6.1 (Release key X6.1 required)

Upgrade X6.1 to X7.2 (Release key X7.1 required)

Akol,

Can you please detail you comment "replication setup between VCS and TMS then you have turn it off gracefully" ? and how should I do this?  If I remove TMS ip address on VCS config (system config > External manager) is this enough?

Thanks,

Ahmed

[Alok Jaiswal]

Ahmed,

Disabling the replication before upgrade is recommended.  Replication between VCS and TMS is used for provisioning devices, phone book etc.

are this VCS'es are in cluster? removing TMS IP from VCS is not the way to do it.

To disable the replication from the VCS-control follow the below steps:

=============================================================

If TMS Agent Data Replication is enabled on VCS control cluster:

a. Select Systems > Navigator (and any required sub folders), then click on the Master VCS of the cluster.

b. Select the Clustering tab.

c. Ensure that all expected peers are shown in the Cluster Peers list.

d. Clear the Enable TMS Agent Data Replication on all Cluster Peers check box.

e. Click Save Cluster Settings.

f. Review the status shown in Administrative Tools > Activity Status to ensure these tasks have completed successfully.

If the VCS is not clustered and standalone only follow the below steps:

a. Select Systems > Navigator (and any required sub folders), then click on the VCS

b. Select the TMS agent tab

c. Clear the Enable TMS Agent Data Replication check box.

d. Click Save.

e. Review the status shown in Administrative Tools > Activity Status to ensure these tasks have completed successfully.

I hope it clarifies.

I will also suggest you to please go through the cluster creation document for VCS before upgrading the formulate a action plan.

Rgds

Alok

[Zac Colton]

For the authentication, treat as authenticated is not really the "safest" option, as this considers all traffic as authenticated. It's only the starting point to make sires call flow is successful. After this, you should consider designing a more secure environment to limit the possible unauthorized use of the telepresence resources, in particular, ISDN gateways.

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPhone App

[Alok Jaiswal · Accepted solution]

Hi Ahmed,

yes that's right "treat as authenticated" is not the safest option, but should be a safe option during the upgrade. later as Zac mentioned you should play around the settings and prepare for a more secure deployment.

Rgds

Alok

[Wayne DeNardi · Accepted solution]

We've done pretty much the same upgrade a couple of months ago (although we were on X5.2).

As per the above replies, you can't go straight to X7.2.2 from X5.1, you need to go via X6.1 first.

So your upgrades would be:

  X5.1.1 -> X6.1 (you'll need an X6 release key)

  X6.1 -> X7.2.2 (you'll need an X7 release key)

Althought he upgades only take ~20 minutes for each step, we allowed 60 minutes for each step (to allow for backout or troubleshooting if there were any issues) and performed each version upgrade step during different outage windows (successive weekends) to be on the safe side.